The Castle Behind the Looking Glass
by Shionomu
Summary: Hey folks...that's a story that has clear resemblence to Black butler but it's not quite it. I put in a lot of my own ideas and inventions. Rules apply differently here so I didn't tagged it as Black Butler. It's a complete shot in the dark but I hope some people like it...
1. The Shadow Behind the Looking Glass

Chapter 1

The Shadow behind the Looking Glass

Blood dribbled slowly on the reflecting floor. The man that originated it wiped it away with a small move of his hand. His wounds were deep and severe but that was the least of his concerns at the moment. He stood in front of the Queen of the Glass Kingdom. As a member of the royal guard it was his duty and honor to protect the kingdom from any harm. But what he had seen a few hours ago when he was on patrol had shaken the brave man to the core.

"I-It was horrible my queen! The whole village was a pile of ashes. Corpses were stapled as towers in the air. It was the hell on earth. Th-Then we met...it. The beast! It was...a huge wolf! Red eyes like the devil himself! Fangs sharper than a crystal sword and a howl that was able to strike fear in every ones heart. It was...fast. So incredible fast! It was above us before we could move a muscle. It had slain half of our patrol before anyone could even grab the hilts of their swords. I was lucky because I was the farthest away from it. I-I was the only one who survived...I am sorry my queen. We had no chance at all..."

The Queen sat on her throne, lost in deep and dark thoughts. This wasn't the first of these reports from the northern border and with every day that passed the reports became bloodier and filled with more innocent victims. She had send out more patrols and stronger armed guards but they were of no use. Most men simply vanished before their bones would be found by a lonesome traveller in the woods, missing every inch of flesh. It seemed like she had to go personally to handle this imminent threat and reestablish the security of her kingdom. She would put a permanent sign of power to the other kingdoms which always tried to claim this piece of land she had acquired through secret operations and raiding parties. She would, again, show the world that she was strong and determined to keep her rightful place in this world.

The next day she departed with only a few of her belongings, a small collection of glass crystals, a small tent in a backpack and her sword in the direction of the northern border. The travel was without much incidents and whenever she would reach a more populated are she castes a thin field of reflecting glass around her which reflected the light in a way that made her practically invisible. A few days later she reached the norther border. A village should've been nearby but all what she found was just plain terror and destruction.

As she entered the abandoned, destructed village, she could smell what happened a few weeks ago. The blood, the fire, the screams of the wounded and the dying. A thick lump formed in her stomach and she swallowed thickly. The view alone made her sad and sick in the stomach. She knew of many beasts and abominations from her library but she had never seen or heard of a beast that was able to eradicate such a big village so thoroughly. With even more determination she headed to the west where she expected to see more and eventually find the beast.

The next few days passed without her getting any more clues. She passed through several villages like the last. No survivors and everything was carefully swept clean except for the destroyed buildings and the stapled bodies. But she had a feeling in the back of her head that she came closer. The bodies became fresher with every village she passed so she was sure that she was going into the right direction.

Then she found it. Even from afar she could smell it the same way as the guard had described it. The blood, the fire and the smoke. No cries were heard so she assumed everyone was already dead. If she would just have been-...no she thought. She could kill that beast first and then later mourn over the dead. As fast as she could she dashed the last few meters into the village. Then she finally stood face to face with her nemesis.

It really was a wolf like being but with red eyes and unusual sharp claws. Quickly she raised her sword and threw the thought about an large animal away. What she was facing was clearly an demonic entity. Probably one of the lower ranks of hell but still enormously dangerous.

Before she could react the beast was in front of her and slashing at her, all she could do was deflecting the attack with her sword. The power of that swing was so enormous that she was forced back a few meters, stumbling against the half burned wall of a house. A quick dodge roll made her evading the second attack which mad the entire house collapse. Her eyes widened and she realized that this beast would not be easy to be slain by her and she had to pull out a few aces from her sleeve.

Quickly she raised her hand and flickered out of sight. Well cloaked in her protective, repelling glass shield she stalked at her opponent. But things weren't going the way she imagined it. A quick sniff and glare of the beast made her realizing that her cover was blown and such low-level magic was useless against her foe.

Dashing with enormous speed the beast was again meeting the queens blade and to her shock it broke in two halves with a loud snapping sound. But the queen hadn't much use for such a low quality blade anyways. Dodging the beasts strikes with swift, well-prepared moves she muttered a small spell under her breath and out of her palm grew first the hilt and then the blade of a new sword made entirely out of sharp, reflecting glass. This was a suitable weapon for banishing vile demons like the one she was facing. With a swift strike between two of his attacks she buried the blade deep into the flank of her foe which was causing him to let out a loud cry of anguish and a whine as he retreated a few meters. With a smile she acknowledged her work on the wolf and readied herself for another one now that her enemy was slowed down. But again, luck was working against her. A whisper filled the air and a black cloud engulfed the wound of the beast and after a few seconds it vanished, leaving untouched black fur and a completely healed wound. Gritting her teeth the queen began to see that this foe was indeed extraordinary. Now, since the table were turned again the beast attacked her much more reckless and every wound caused by her vanished in the same way as displayed before.

Then it happened and if it wasn't for her quick reaction it would've been the end of her. With a fake attack of it's left paw the beast opened a window for an attack and sunk it's fangs deep into her shoulder. Now it was the queen turn to cry out in pain but before it could finish her by closing it's jaw completely she buried her sword to the hilt in the skull of the beast which caused it to release her. Slowly she limped away, holding her shoulder in a tight grip, preventing it to spill out more blood than necessary. She tried to get a few seconds to cast a transportation spell to flee but her action were in vain. No matter how often she muttered the spell it wouldn't work. Her magic was blocked, sucked away by the ferocious bite of the vile beast. She closed her eyes and thought of a plan and decided this would be her last chance. She turned to face the beast which had regenerated by now and threw her sword away.

"At least have some honor and grant me a quick death!"

To her shock the beasts facial expression seemed to shift, even though it was only a bit. It seemed to grin at her and it was like it only waited for this moment.

With a quick dash it was almost in front of her but instead of accepting her fate she quickly raised her arm and shouted a word of magical power.

The big wolf crashed into a solid glass wall but that wasn't the end of it. Using the advantage of it's momentary stupor the queen fell into a low sing-song to finish her ritual. Quickly five more glass walls appeared, sealing the beast away in a huge glass cube that acted as a prison until one could finally deliver the killing blow. The queen fell onto her butt, panting heavily from the fight, her eyes met the ground and closed as she tried to regain her breath.

Suddenly a crash and the sound of bursting glass was heard. Her head rushed up just to see huge cracks in one of the walls. But what was even more disturbing was the fact that the solid creature of the wolf had disappeared. Now the whole cube was filled with black smoke and in it resided two red, glowing eyes. But the damage done to the cube was only of very short time. Displaying similar healing properties like the thing inside the cube before, the cube itself regenerated the damage quickly and without leaving a trace.

After getting a few minutes of rest and watching the black cloud in a mixture of awe and terror, crashing again and again against it's prison, the queen had regained enough of her power to perform her transportation spell.

She gathered every drop of magical energy inside her and intonated the spell. Queen and cube disappeared in a loud sound of bursting and breaking glass and in a cloud of millions of tiny glass fragments.

Back in her castle she stored the cube in the basement. From that moment on she could her the beast trying to break it's cage again and again accompanied by loud crashing and bursting sounds. Slowly the queen recovered from her ordeals and her wounds healed apart from a faint scar left on her shoulder where the wolf had sunk it's teeth into her. A few weeks after that incident the queen woke up with a strange feeling. Something was odd. Her eyes widened a little. There was no crashing sound to be heard! Dressing quickly and running down the flight of stairs into the basement she already panicked the beast had escaped. But that was not the case. The black cloud inside the cube had indeed vanished but it had taken again another shape which no one had expected.

Inside the white, lightly glowing cube stood a man with short black hair, red eyes in a black suit. He met the queens gaze with such coldness that the queen began to shiver. After a while she found back her words.

"Who...are you?"


	2. The Beast in the Cage

Chapter 2

The Beast in the Cage

"Who...are you?"

The Queen made a step back from the big glass cube, staring at the man inside that stared down at her with this gaze like hell itself gathered inside him.

"Pathetic..."

His voice was like fire and ice in one. A voice of something that didn't knew about the concepts of life and death. He was obviously someone who lived above those mortal rules. But that doesn't meant that she couldn't handle him. He was just a demon. Every demon she met broke under her sooner or later. She narrowed her eyes.

"I asked for your name demon."

He looked back and a small smirk of amusement came over his face.

"I have no name wench and I am not a demon. Well...not one of these demons you normally meet."

She looked up at him not buying even one word of him. Demons always lied.

"I asked you to tell me your name you abomination of the earth! And stop calling me wench!"

The demon chuckled revealing two sharp, pointy fangs in his mouth. That was the proof! Every demon had them.

"First of all as I already stated I have no name wench. And for the second thing I can call you however I want. I am your prisoner..."

He narrowed his eyes as well, borrowing her expression.

"...not your pet wench."

She gritted her teeth.

"Well if it's like that then you can rot here until all eternity."

The man in the suit chuckled again.

"No I simply have to wait until you are dead. Your magic will fade like dust in the wind and I will be free, slaughtering every man, woman and child in this kingdom."

This time it was the queen who chuckled. Her raven black hair turned snow white, she also brought out two pointy fangs in your mouth and a tail with a puffy, spiked glass star that was burning in blue fire sprouted out from under her dress.

"You are not the only one who is not playing by the rules asshole. So if I am saying you burn there until all eternity I meant it. Enjoy your time here..."

She turned around and walked away to the door.

"Wench..."

She turned and glared at him.

"What?"

The man just smirked at her which gave her an odd feeling while she turned back to her human disguise.

"From what I saw you are not a demon even though you have the shape. You were raised by..."

He sniffed loudly three times.

"...humans. How interesting. My question is what name did those mortal trash gave you?"

She clenched her fists. The painful memories of her parents flickered through her mind. She closed her eyes and concentrated, locking it away deep in the back of her mind.

"...why would you care?", she said looking up at him with pure malice.

"Oh I don't care...", the man said, flicking invisible dust from his shoulder and gave her another of his cocky smirks then.

"But I am curious...as always~"

She laid her head wry and looked at him. Despite his rudeness and the murders he committed he had something on him that was...fascinating. She shook her head firmly and brushed him out of his mind.

"Well asshole since you asked so nice. My name is Queen Yoka Gurasu Tenchi Akuma the First. For short simply Yoka"

The man chuckled.

"Thank you. That's all I needed."

She gave him another glare.

"Don't try anything funny asshole. I will have your guts for garters if you do. I'll shrink that prison of yours so tiny that not even a bacteria survives. Mark my words."

The man gave her a wry smirk.

"I would never do that...my queen~"

She had finally enough of him. With anger pulsating through her veins she stormed out, slamming the door. Even through the wooden barrier she could her him laughing to himself. In this sudden shift of events, paired with her anger she hadn't even asked him for his motives. But she brushed that aside again. There was plenty of time to discuss that later.


	3. The Contract

Chapter 3

"The Contract"

The man in the suit sat on the ground of his glassy prison. One hand resting on the ground and the other one was pointed on a wall. With one of his sharp, black claws he was carving runes, signs and different texts in a long forgotten language into the regenerative glass. After a while he sighed and looked up. The queen hadn't shown up for days since their last encounter. Maybe she was seeking for a way to destroy him. Or she thought ignoring him would make him talk. He had already everything he needed. A name was more than enough.

He inhaled greatly and yelled so the guard outside of his room would hear it.

"Hey! Guard!"

The rustling of keys was heard and a man in a thin, shining glass armour walked in. He was obviously not very pleased with the task of guarding this prisoner.

"What do you want demon? There is a shift change in twenty minutes. Couldn't you have waited until then?"

The demon looked down with a neutral look.

"My throat is dry. Can I have some water?"

The guard sighed loudly.

"You bastard killed hundreds of our men and now you want me to get you abomination of the earth some water?"

The demon gave him a wry smile.

"If it isn't too much of an effort for you, yes please."

The guard shot him an angry and annoyed glare.

"If it would go after me you would be dead by now without a funeral. I would let your body get eaten by the dogs!"

The demon smiled again.

"Well then I am lucky that it isn't going after you, right?"

The guard just grunted and muttered curses under his breath while he filled a small, wooden bowl with fresh water from the sink. He sighed and got back in the prisoner room where he pushed the bowl against the cube. The bowl slided through the thick glass without much resistance. The queen had altered the spell so everything could get in but nothing could get out if she didn't allowed it. So after the bowl had entered the cube the guard left the room again, still pissed about his task. Eagerly the demon took up the filled bowl but instead of drinking it he began to chant a spell.

He reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and took out a thin strand of white hair. Hair he had stolen from the queen while they fought with the intention to torture her soul a little more when he had killed her but now it would serve another purpose.

Under more chanting and casting he dropped the hair into the bowel and it ignited itself, burning away together with the water. After everything burned out a small white pearl was left inside the bowl. He picked it up, examining it with a small smirk.

"A hundred percent pure. Mymy who would've thought..."

With these words he opened his fanged mouth and dropped the pearl into it, devouring the small object. He threw away the bowel and sat down in a corner, leaning against one of the edges of the cube. There was much to discover.

The queen sat in her throne, deep in thoughts. Having a demon in her custody was a blessing and a curse. It gave her respect under her own men and she was feared by her enemies for performing such an act but the man in her basement was more than dangerous. In addition was it not enough. The armies of the Sand and the Ice Kingdom drew already nearer. They were close to her borders and it was only a matter of time. In fact she was close to be defeated. She couldn't hold off the hordes of both kingdoms, no matter how powerful she was. She needed to form an alliance with one of them but that wasn't an easy task.

Daurion, the king of the Ice Kingdom was an old childhood friend but since his wife got sick and couldn't be healed up until now the madness had gotten to him and he blamed Yoka, knowing about her demonic nature.

The Sand Kingdom wasn't better. They yearned for the lands of her kingdom for a long time now. Being short on land where they could harvest food they always tried to overthrow her kingdom and getting her land. Their king Silas was a cruel, unforgiving man. But he was more than capable of ruling a kingdom and he had trained the best assassins under his command. She always wondered why he hadn't used them to get rid of her. He was probably too proud to use them...yet.

Suddenly the doors to the throne room flung open and a soldier stormed in.

"My Queen! We've got message from the northern border! They invaded us! The armies crossed the river Riddle on two different points. They took the first few villages at the border!"

The gaze of the queen darkened.

"Prepare the army. We will go into battle. We have no other choice..."

The guard just nodded and ran off. The queens thoughts trailed back to her problems. The demon in her basement had to wait. There were more difficult tasks she had to manage first.

-4 weeks later-

„They have surrounded us. The city is under siege. The ice kingdom has drawn

back it's troops but the sand kingdom is pushing further into our country. There is no

chance of winning. We are outnumbered and underequipped."

Yoka looked over to her general.

"So...what do you suggest Gairon?"

The man fell silent.

"We...have no other option but to admit our defeat. Maybe they'll have mer-"

"There will be no mercy Gairon and you know that. They'll slaughter us like pigs or sacrifice us and summon their demo-..."

The queen fell silent, knitting her brows.

"There...could be one more option. It's a thin one but...maybe there is hope..."

Without another word she left the preparation room and headed down to the cellar. She had to make a deal. A deal she didn't knew if she could handle it.

The demon sat in his cell. He had learned enough, watched as everything unfolded, he knew what would happen next and this was his ticket out of here. He just needed to play his cards the right way. A second later the door to his prison room was pushed open and the queen walked in, high and mighty as always. But this time he knew that she was faking it, he could feel and smell the despair.

„My...what a rare visitor these days. You weren't here for quite a while. I thought you would've forgotten about me"

The queen narrowed her eyes.

"I have a deal for you to get out of here. You know you can't leave, with this you could be free from this cage at least."

The man rose to his feet and leaned against one wall of the cube.

"Oh I am well aware of what you want to propose. I know in what kind of situation you are in and if you want me to exchange one leash for another you have to make your offer..hmmm...juicy enough for me~"

The demon grinned while the eyes of the queen widened lightly.

"How do you-?"

"It's unimportant how I know about the circumstances. What counts is our deal."

The queen closed her eyes for a minute to think. It didn't changed her situation and times were desperate.

"So what do you want?"

The demon grinned.

"What~? I can't hear you from up here~"

"Don't play with me demon. I asked you what do you want."

The man rearranged his black suit and but on a slight smile.

"You help me finding a certain object which must be located within one of the kingdoms. I was looking for it before you captured me. I knew back then that it was close by but then you...interrupted...my search."

"I guess that's not all you want demon."

"Of course not. The second thing I want is your essence after we found what I was looking for."

The queen casted down her eyes. The essence was for a demon what the soul was for a human. But she had no other choice. She had to protect what was dear to her.

"Alright...I agree. Lets make the contract."

The queen lifted her finger and a flight of stairs grew out of the ground. As if they were alive they reached up to the bottom of the cube. Quickly she took the stairs and moved her hand through the barrier.

"You know how a contract is formed demon?"

The man frowned.

"I am not an idiot. I've done this thousands of times."

With this he dragged her hand up and bit deep into it, letting the blood flow over so his hand was covered in her blood. Then he bit into his own and was letting her hand drenched in his. After that he took her hand into a tight grip.

"Let us begin..."

The queen nodded. He turned his hand so the back of his hand showed upwards, the two biting marks showing.

"If I am the moon, you will be the stars," she hissed, "If I am the queen you are the knight, and if I am the knight you are the sword. If you are the sword then I am merchant, blacksmith, and miner. You are mine to mold and refine. If I am the rose you are the thorn. If I am the siren, you are the rocks. Should I be the spider, you are the web. You are a tool in my service, to defend me, to cut down what I say is to be cut down. You help me to protect the kingdom and their citizens. You are not allowed to kill anyone who isn't a traitor and belongs to this kingdom. Do you agree?"

The demon nodded.

„I agree to the terms."

A seal formed on the back of his hand and the wounds closed. With a quick move he turned the handshake so her handback was facing upwards.

"You will help me to recover what is mine. You'll betray, kill and taint everyone and everything when it becomes necessary. If a child protects what I am looking for you'll rip it to pieces and if it lies within a village you'll burn it to the ground and ransack the ashes and remains for the object. When you find it you'll hand it over, without hesitation and without questions. After that you'll again, without resistance and hesitation hand me over your essence. You'll be mine to decide. Your life will be within the palm of my hand. Do you agree?"

The queens hand fidgeted in his for a second.

"I...I agree."


	4. Settling Things

Chapter 4

Settling Things

The air was cold at this late summer morning when the queen and the demon slowly ascended the steps to the top of the highest tower of the castle. They didn't spoke a word on the way. Everything was silent like the calm before the storm. The demon had, as always, a small smirk on his lips. Yes he was bound by a contract now, but he was free of his limiting prison. The queen had given him a task.

"Destroy the approaching enemies of the glass.", she had said to him.

This one would be a piece of cake.

He still hadn't given her a name that she could call him and even when she had ordered him to tell her all he said was:

"I told you already...I have no name." and added a cocky smirk.

She also had asked him if he needed a weapon. Now that he was bound by an order he couldn't harm the queen nor anyone else who was a citizen or an ally of the glass.

He asked for a simple blade. He claimed that this was more than enough to strike down any "mortals" as he called them, had to offer.

The queen was sceptic. He also declined any assistance in the form of armor or archery backup.

"They'd just distract me or slow me down", he deadpanned.

When the sun was almost directly above the tower, the enemy armies revealed themselves, dropping their cloaking spells. A mixture of yellow, brown and blue coat of arms was seen.

"So sand and snow allied together to speed up my downfall...", the queen muttered.

"My my, are you really so fast to give up my queen?", the demon asked with a smirk.

"Of course not! I wouldn't have paid you and formed a contract if I wouldn't be sure that we are victorious."

The demon chuckled.

"Of course my queen. How could I ever doubt your planning skills~"

He made a few steps forward His new butler outfit, that he had changed for his black, velvet suit fluttered in the wind. He stepped up on the wall that protected the tower from any kind of ranged attacks. He spoke with a calm voice but even though the wind and the shouts from below were very loud she could understand him clearly.

"What are your orders my queen?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"Take them down."

A wide grin spread over his face.

"Oh that'll be fun~"

With that he simply made a step forward, falling from the tower.

It had rained for three days now. Still the black liquid was running down the glass windows of the castle. It all seemed totally crazy back then. A voice interrupted the queens thoughts.

"It's really like in the ancient stories, no? That demon guy really seems to be one of them..."

The queens blacksmith, an old, scarred war veteran with an undeterminable age stood next to her watching the strange weather. It rained now since the battle ended, without an end.

"His name is Marvin.", the queen replied without taking her gaze from the black rain.

"Oh...he finally told you his name?"

She shook her head.

"I was tired of asking and guessing so I gave him one myself. It's better like that anyways. I'm sick of having him mocking me..."

She blacksmith sighed.

"How is he anyways? Has he woken up?"

She shook her head.

"No...not since..."

Another sigh from the smith.

"Well...he took that thing after all. But look what he has accomplished! He has earned his rest."

The queen leaned her forehead against the cold window, recalling the battle once again.

"Maybe...maybe you are right."

The man in the suit and the generals of the opposing armies met in the middle of the battlefield. The omnipotent smirk of the demon had vanished, being replaced by a determined, cold gaze.

"Gentlemen. I think we all know why we have gathered here today."

One of the generals nodded.

"To accept the unconditional capitulation of the glass queen."

The butler chuckled.

"Oh you are mistaken dear general. It is quite the contrary."

One of them bursted in laughter and earned an disapproving growl of the demon that fortunately or unfortunately drowned in his laughter.

"Hahahahahaha! So you want to tell us the queen will really kill us a-"

He was literally cut short as his head was ripped of by the butler with one hand. The cocky smirk had returned on his face as he dropped the head like a cabbage.

"Well gentlemen...the game has begun. It's hunt or be hunted~ The Queen of glass doesn't need an army. My name is Legion, because I am many."

Borrowing this old biblic quote he drew his blade.

"Filthy humans.", his eyes gleamed red. He exhaled.

On top of her tower, the queen could see the two men die. She held her breath. Suddenly a voice, not her own, spoke in her mind.

"My queen. To destroy your enemies...release my restriction"

And as if the words were put in her mouth she whispered against the agitated shouts of the enemy soldiers and the wind which was howling against the tower.

"I...I release your restriction, demon."

Down on the battlefield, a sudden rush of energy filled the demon.

"Yes...release restriction three..."

His eyes gleamed red and he took focus on the enemy army which was currently charging at him. Their generals were dead and they were sure to get revenge for this. Just one man stood between them and the capital city. The butler took a firm grip on his sword and charged into the enemy lines. Like a bullet out of a gun he crashed into them, tossing bodies around like ragdolls. Screams and shouts were heard as part of the army started to attack the walls. Before they could reach them, the sky went dark. A howling was heard, not from this world. Not the wind against the walls was causing it. After a second of irritation, hell broke loose.

Hundreds of wolves, formed from shadows with red gleaming eyes emerged from the ground. Like the nightmare of a small child they began to attack on the horrified man, biting, clawing and devouring, they murdered their way through the troops.

Panic spread and the infantry at the front were severely decimated. But then, a wave of arrows rained from the sky. Each wolf, that was hit by a projectile, turned back into a black puddle of shadows.

They got a second wind, taking charge again just to be slaughtered when the shadows formed again, forming big, black bears with razor sharp claws and the same red eyes which crashed into the enemy lines again.

Meanwhile the butler was busy carving a bloody trail into the humans leaving no one standing in his way. Arrows shot, fell powerless to the ground. Blows, deflected by an invisible forcefield. Magic, misfired or turned against its caster.

It was like misfortune itself had taken hold of the enemy troops. Sand and ice alike fell at the same rate. It was living hell under the black-clouded sky.

More beasts emerged from the shadows, speeding up their demise. Laughing, the demon levitated over the battlefield occasionally striking down in the chaos to take a victim.

The battle went on for hours and the ground was drenched in human blood, dying it red.

At last there was silence. Many had fled from the mass grave which displayed itself now there in front of the capital city. The butler walked over the dead bodies like death itself, ending the lives of those who were unfortunate enough to not to be devoured by the beasts.

He went down on his knees, carefully, almost gently, taking the head of his dying victim into his lap. Then, like an angel of death, he exchanged a few words with it before sinking his razor-sharp fangs into its neck, drinking its essence of life. When the last heart stopped beating, silence fell over the battlefield like a dark blanket.

One by one, the shadow beasts disappeared back to their home, the shadows, leaving the demon alone behind on the field, surrounded by his dead victims.

Suddenly dead bodies were pushed aside and an injured archer broke from his dead comrades. The butler faced him with a grin, pulling his blade again.

"My. Seems like one of the filthy rats escaped my cleaning attempts. C'mon rat! Show me what you've got!"

The archer just grinned, loading his bow with an special arrow, its tip gleaming with highly compressed mystical energy. The butler got ready to deflect the shot, but instead of aiming at him the archer held his bow high in the air, releasing the bowstring. The arrow described an high arc before taking aim at the queen, speeding up through gravity and by other, unknown, means.

The arrow was fast. Too fast. It hit and the queens field of vision went black. A second later she realised that she hadn't lost consciousness but the butler had taken place before her acting as a living shield and had taken the shot.

The archer dropped his bow and dropped dead on the ground. The butler stumbled against her, spilling a large amount of blood on the floor before he collapsed.

As if the clouds had waited for this, they gave way for the water to fall and it began to rain.

A dark rain. Black like tar.


	5. Moonlight Talks

Chapter Five

Moonlight Talks

It was in the middle of the night when the queen woke up. The sky was finally clear at last. It had taken the clouds several hours after it finally stopped raining, to fully disappear. It had been five days now. Enough for sand and ice to reform their armies. The butler had decimated them enough. They wouldn't pose that much of a threat anymore and the psychological effect he must've had on the survivors weren't to be underestimated as well.

Without finding anymore sleep the queen got up and went for a walk through the castle. It was silent. Even the guards were sleeping now. Moonlight was falling through the windows of the large hallway, casting her shadows now and then when she passed through it. When she walked around a corner she saw something unusual. The glass doors of one of the large balconies were wide open, a slight breeze made the curtains to the left and right flutter. Cautiously she approached the doors without making a sound. Did an assassin enter the castle? If yes it would've been no problem for it to pass by the guards without getting seen. Everyone was overworked and tired so it was no wonder. Even the guards who were still awake didn't paid very much attention.

When she got her sight on the balcony she exhaled in relief. A figure in a black coat was sitting with its back to her, a single glass of wine and an opened bottle standing next to it on the railing. It looked up to the moon, not taking its gaze off of it.

The queen calmly moved over and said next to the figure on the edge of the balcony.

"Pleasant night, isn't it?", she asked.

"Indeed. The full moon is beautiful…", the butler answered.

"How are your wounds Marvin?"

The demon chuckled.

"Marvin, yes?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that, demon?"

The demon chuckled again.

"Of course not. I'll take the name that you give me and I'll wear it with pride."

"Good. Now answer my question. How are your wounds?"

"My…one could think that you are actually worried about me my queen."

"Marvin. I won't ask again."

He sighed and his hand slid down over his bare chest, on the red bandages that were covered in dried blood.

"They hurt…but they heal."

She sighed.

"That is good….and…thank you."

For the first time he took his gaze from the moon and looked over to her.

"For what?"

"Well for….rescuing my life. I'm sure that arrow would have ended my life if it would've hit me…"  
>"Well…that is my job, no? To protect my queen and follow her orders. I just did my job, there is nothing you would have to thank me for. I'm just making sure that you hold your end of the bargain in the end."<p>

The queen smiled to herself. She knew there was a bit more to that than what he would reveal.

"If you say so…so what are you drinking?"

Again the man looked over to her for a while, she kept looking up to the moon with a small smile.

"Uhm…red wine. You want some too?"

"Yeah why not. I hadn't had the opportunity to share a drink with someone. Could you get me a second glass?"

He smirked.

"No problem at all."

With that he layed his flat hand on the reiling and slowly raised it up. Under his palm appeared the thin, shadowy features of a wine glass before it solidified and turned into an actual glass. Without further ado he removed the cork from the bottle and filled her glass halfway with wine and handed it to her.

They both sat there in silence that was only interrupted by the occasional sound when one of them took up their glass.

"So…how do you intend to continue this war of yours my queen?"

She cocked her head to the side.

"Well…we can't start a counterattack…but if we play our cards well then we will be able to form a contract with the ice kingdom. I don't know why it's king Daurion attacked us…we used to be friends in the past and always had a good relationship. Well we'll know when we meet him in a few days. But you need to recover first. I need you in top form."

"I'm fine!", the black-haired man barked.

"This is just a flesh wound."

The queen sighed and rolled her eyes.

"You are like my husband…we will head out in the morning then. Be prepared to bring us to the northern kingdom as fast as possible…and be prepared for more of these kind of attack. We don't know what Daurion has planned."

The demon got up, turned to her and made a deep bow.

"Yes…my master."


End file.
